The peeler mechanism in a printer with a label peeler guides the web on which the labels are adhesively affixed around a peeler bar or other peeler member at an angle of 90 degrees or less. When the web is thus guided through a transportation path that curves in an acute angle, the stiffness of the labels affixed to the web surface causes the labels to peel away and separate from the web. The peeled labels are then discharged from a label exit, and the operator can easily remove the peeled labels thus dispensed from the label exit.
If the label that is discharged from the label exit is not removed by the user and thus remains in the label exit when the next label is similarly discharged, the labels will stick together in the label exit, eventually resulting in a paper jam. To prevent such problems, an optical label sensor is typically disposed near the label exit to detect if a label is in the label exit.
When operating in the label peeling mode that peels the labels one by one from the web, printing the next label starts when the optical label sensor detects that the discharged label has been removed. When operating in the continuous label discharge mode in which the labels are discharged in a continuous stream intact on the web, however, the label paper is fed in a relatively straight path directly out from the label exit instead of passing through the path that curves the web in an acute angle. The label sensor in this case always detects either a label or the web, and the label dispensing mode therefore cannot be controlled based on the label sensor output (the label sensor output does not change).
The continuous label dispensing mode must therefore be controlled either by invalidating (disabling) label sensor output or by changing the label dispensing operation based on the label sensor output. Operator input to change the label dispensing mode is, however, required to change the control method.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application H08-295323 teaches a label printer that can recognize the label dispensing mode based on how the web is loaded without requiring operator input. The disclosed label printer has a web sensor disposed to the web discharge path to which the web is loaded when operating in the label peeling mode. When the web sensor detects the web, the printer knows that the peeler is set to operate in the label peeling mode. The web is fed in another path in which the web sensor is disposed when in the label peeling mode.
To change the label peeling mode to the continuous label dispensing mode in a conventional printer with a peeler, operator input is required to switch to a control mode that disables so as to ignore the output from the label sensor disposed at the label exit, or to a control mode that is not based on label sensor output. Problems can result when the operator forgets to change the control mode because how the web is loaded in the peeler may not match the label dispensing mode that is known to the printer control system. Printer usability and operability can thus be improved by eliminating the need for such operator input.
Furthermore, disposing a web sensor to the web discharge path to recognize a change in the label dispensing mode requires a web sensor in addition to a label sensor, thus increasing both device size and cost. Providing a place to locate the web sensor can also be difficult because the web discharge path is generally located near the label exit where very little space is available.
The present invention is directed to a printer having a peeler mechanism that can operate in a label dispensing mode corresponding to the setup of the peeler mechanism without requiring user input to change the label dispensing mode setting or requiring a web sensor to detect the label dispensing mode.
The present invention thus provides a printer with a peeler mechanism that can recognize how the peeler mechanism is set based on output from a label sensor disposed at the label exit. The peeler mechanism can control operation based on label sensor output in both the continuous label dispensing mode and the label peeling mode.